There is a quote above the entrance to the former Upper Chamber. It is from the ancient Legal Code of Jutland: “Logh scal gøres æftær allæ mens gaffn”, meaning “The law must be according to the ways of the people”.

The present former Upper Chamber was inaugurated in 1918 when the Third Christiansborg Palace opened. The former Upper Chamber is located opposite the present Chamber (this was then the Lower Chamber) and was used as a parliamentary chamber until 1953 when the Upper Chamber was abolished.

Architect Thorvald Jørgensen designs the Upper Chamber to reflect the people who are to use it. Members of the Upper Chamber, who were rich landowners and civil servants, loved the Neo-baroque manorial design expression with plain white walls. The décor is devoid of the Skønvirke (Danish variant of Jugendstil) ornament that is typical of many other spaces in the building. 

Cigar shelves with numbered ashtrays were mounted outside the Upper Chamber. If a break was too short, members could leave their cigars here when they returned to the Upper Chamber to continue debating. 

Paintings in the former Upper Chamber

New works of art were introduced to the former Upper Chamber in 2014. Erik A. Frandsen produces four huge paintings and nine smaller canvasses with charcoal drawings for the former Upper Chamber. These works constitute the largest artwork in any conference room in the Danish Parliament.

Frandsen’s work depicts daily life, including house fronts and rooms with flowers, i.e. motifs that bring balance and intimacy into this magnificent space.

The former Upper Chamber today

In the past, there was a spectators’ gallery and galleries reserved for the royal family and the press. While the spectators’ gallery is now removed and the royal gallery partly obscured for visitors, the press gallery remains in its original spot, i.e. where it was when ”Landstingssalen” functioned as the upper chamber. 

The former Upper Chamber is now normally used for meetings and conferences. It is also available to hire for political purposes.

The former Upper Chamber is open to the public as part of guided tours.

The Lobby on the first floor of Christiansborg Palace is an 80 metre long hall that connects the  Folketing, the former Lower Chamber of the Danish Parliament, with the Landsting, the former Upper Chamber. In Danish, the Lobby is known as "Vandrehallen", which literally means the "Wandering Hall" or "Walking Hall", because Bills formerly had to "wander" between the two Chambers of Parliament  before they could be passed. However, this practice came to an end with the abolition of the Danish bicameral system in 1953.

The Danish Constitutional Acts

The Danish Constitutional Acts are displayed in the Lobby:

• The first democratic Constitutional Act of 1849, where the King handed over power to the people. 
• The Constitutional Act of 1866, which imposed tighter rules on election to the Upper Chamber. 
• The Constitutional Act of 1915, which enfranchised women. 
• The Constitutional Act of 1953, which abolished the bicameral system.

In addition, three important Official Acts from the constitutional history of Denmark, prior to the Constitutional Act of 1849, are also displayed:

• The Jutland Act of 1241, which regulated the division of power between the king, the nobility and the church. 
• The Coronation Charter of 1483, which limited the king's power and benefited bishops and the nobility. 
• The King's Act of 1665, which is the "constitutional act" of absolute monarchy. 

The floral frieze in the Lobby 

A special feature of the Lobby is a 268 metre long floral frieze decorating the walls. The frieze was painted in 1918-21 by Rasmus Larsen, who later became known as "the cheeky painter" because he added his own, ironic remarks on political life to the frieze: "Not every cock that crows promises a new day". And: "Everybody wants to be the boss, but where work's concerned, they're at a loss." These are just a couple of “words of advice" and admonitions for politicians to think about when they pass Rasmus Larsen's work. 

30 standing committees process bills and motions that are subsequently adopted or rejected in the Chamber. Committees meet in the Committee Rooms. As a rule, a committee has its own committee room, although some committees share. The Committee Rooms are designed in different styles and with different artistic impact.

Committee Room interiors

The Committee Room interiors are just as varied as the committees. The Committee Rooms in the former royal wing, including the Legal Affairs Committee Room, have beautifully textured stucco ceilings. In the other wing, committee rooms have plain ceilings. 

The Finance Committee is the oldest committee. It meets in a particularly impressive room in the tower at the centre of Christiansborg Palace. The room has an arched roof with a spectacular azure blue dome with plasterwork in the centre. A Venetian glass chandelier hangs from the dome, pinpointing the exact centre of the room.

Some Committee Rooms are painted dark red, others dark blue or grey. A few are painted white. The colours of the walls are adapted to enhance the works of art. 
Furnishings also vary. Desks and chairs are always placed in a circle or horseshoe so that committee members can see each other during debates. 

Art in the Committee Rooms

There are paintings of all kinds in the Committee Rooms. A painting by Jens Søndergaard, an expressionist landscape artist from Jutland, hangs in the Finance Committee Room. The artist sought to express his emotions through his depictions of the natural environment.

The European Affairs Committee Room features paintings by Per Kirkeby. He was inspired by geology. Kirkeby’s ochre palette with flashes of blue, purple and green contrasts beautifully with the deep dark red of the walls that was also chosen by the artist.

The European Affairs Committee Room

The walls of the Domestic, Social Affairs and Children’s Committee Room are adorned with posters from the 1920s, when the people of Southern Jutland voted to redraw the border between Germany and Denmark. This room is also called “Det Sønderjyske Værelse” (the Southern Jutland room).

Other committee rooms have individual design expressions, complemented by paintings by recognised artists, e.g. Arne Haugen Sørensen, Seppo Mattinen and Kaspar Bonnén.
The four works by Kaspar Bonnén in the Defence Committee Room are entitled “The Struggle for Democracy”.

 The Warehouse houses the Administration of the Danish Parliament and many Members of the Danish Parliament have offices here. The Warehouse was built during the reign of King Christian IV to store naval provisions. At the time, the building lay on the harbour. Almost 400 years since its construction, the Danish Parliament acquired the Warehouse in 1993.

The Warehouse is located to one side of Christiansborg Palace, parallel with Slotsholmsgade. The Warehouse is behind the Danish Jewish Museum and the Royal Library and its Garden.

The history of the Warehouse

King Christian IV built the Warehouse in the period 1598-1611, concomitant with his expansions at Copenhagen Castle. The Warehouse was originally used to store food and other provisions destined for naval vessels. 

Food, including bread, ale, salted fish and pork, was stored here while gunpowder and weapons were stored in “Tøjhuset” (the Royal Arsenal) on the other side of the Garden of the Royal Library. In modern Danish usage, the word “tøj” means clothing but it derives from “ziug”, a Middle High German word that also meant “equipment”.
When the Warehouse and the Royal Arsenal were built, there was a 4-metre deep dock between the two buildings. Large warships could sail into the dock and cargo loaded from both sides. 

I n 1868, the dock was filled in and it is now the elegant Garden of the Royal Library. The Garden is the work of several architects, including Thorvald Jørgensen. It was established concomitantly with the construction of the Third Christiansborg Palace – also designed by Thorvald Jørgensen.

The Warehouse through the ages

In the early days, a naval bakery and smokehouse lay at the north end of the Warehouse. To the south, there was a cold store for salted and smoked meats, and salted cod and herring. In time, these functions were removed as the parts of the building were destroyed in successive fires. 

Later, during the Swedish blockade of Copenhagen (1658-1660), the building was used to store provisions transported here on Dutch vessels.
Down the ages, the Danish state has put the building to many different uses. In 1989, a decision was made to refurbish the building to house the Danish Parliament and the Danish National Archives. 

When refurbishment work was almost complete in 1992, fire broke out in the Warehouse rafters. For a time, until it was brought under control, the fire threatened to spread to the ministerial buildings on Slotsholmsgade. Due to fire damage, the refurbishment project cost DKK 70+ million more than planned and it was completed at 18 months’ delay. 
Christiansborg Palace is linked to the Warehouse

You can access the Warehouse via several routes from Christiansborg, e.g. the corridor through Kavalerløngangen (The Cavalier Passage), also known as Zahlkammerbygningen (the Counting House). At the Danish Parliament, this corridor is commonly referred to as “the Ministers’ corridor” for two reasons. One is that portraits of previous governments line its walls and the other is that, in the past, the ministers had offices here, close to the Chamber that is just around the corner.

The Counting House dates from the reign of King Frederik IV. It is a remnant of the Second Christiansborg Palace. The Speaker of the Danish Parliament has an apartment here. 

The Warehouse décor

Following the 1992 fire and comprehensive rebuilding of the Warehouse to create office spaces in 1993, the building is adorned with four new works of art:

• a glass sculpture by Lars Ravn
• a work in ceramic tiles by Henrik Have
• an installation (including floor painting and sculpture) by Bjørn Nørgaard
• an installation (including friezes and wall-mounted objects) by Hans Christian Rylander.

These works are created specifically for this building to signify democracy. They refer to Danish cultural history and the evolution of democracy – each in its own way.

Christiansborg Palace Tower was built as part of the Third – present-day – Christiansborg Palace. The Tower is open to the public. There is a restaurant at the top. From the viewing platform 44 m above the ground, there are splendid views across all of Copenhagen. On a clear day, you can see Sweden.
At 106 metres, this is Copenhagen’s tallest tower. For almost a century, there was a secret box room at the top of the tower. It was visited only when the Danish Parliament’s guards went up there to raise the flag. The box room is now open to the public.

Copenhagen's tallest tower

Like the remainder of the Third Christiansborg Palace, the Tower is the work of architect Thorvald Jørgensen. The palace is built in the period 1907-1928. 
The drawings were repeatedly altered for various reasons, including budget overruns. For example, much of the ornamentation was cancelled. When Christiansborg Palace was complete in 1828, only one crown decorated the Tower. 

Two more crowns were added in 1934. The Minister for the Interior, Bertel Dahlgaard initiated the additional adornment. Dahlgaard declared that, with only the one crown, the tower resembled Korsør railway station. With two extra crowns on a finial, the Tower was now taller than the tower on Copenhagen Town Hall. At 106 metres, the Christiansborg Palace Tower is still Copenhagen's tallest tower, just 40 cm higher than the town hall tower. Could Bertel Dahlgaard have had an ulterior motive?

The three crowns symbolise the Kalmar Union that united the realms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden between 1397 and 1523. The finial is also equipped with a cross and a weather vane. The cross symbolises that Denmark is a Christian country. 

The spire also features eight figures created by sculptor Axel Locher. The 3.10-metre copper figures depict men and women at work. The figures include a fisherman and a farmer.

A new roof on the Tower

The Tower was built in reinforced concrete with a granite façade. Originally, it was roofed with tiles. A fund-raising campaign in 1937 made it possible to replace the tiles with copper. 

At the start of the new millennium, experts discovered that the copper plating and reinforced concrete were in a lamentable state of repair and had to be refurbished. Refurbishment work was carried out from 2006-2009 The roof is currently coppery brown in colour. Within the next 20 years, the elements will weather the copper and restore the roof’s characteristic green colour. The new copper roof is expected to last about 100 years.

The view from the Tower

You can climb free of charge to Udsigten (the viewing platform) 44 metres above the ground where there are excellent views across Copenhagen.
To the north-east, you can see the Grand Square with Holmens Church and canal, Kongens Nytorv (square), the magnificent dome of the Marble Church, the Øresund straits with offshore wind turbines and Sweden on the horizon.

To the north-west, you can see the Church of the Holy Spirit, King Christian IV’s Round Tower and the cathedral designed by C.F. Hansen. Beyond these lie the Østerbro quarter of the city and the coastline.

From the south-west, there is a spectacular view down onto the Royal Stables Wing and two wings of the palace and, at a distance, the Tivoli amusement park, Town Hall Tower and Police Headquarters. On the horizon, you may get a glimpse of the characteristic black tower at Copenhagen Zoo.

Towards the south-east, there are views over the Warehouse, Royal Library, harbour entrance and the Islands Brygge quarter with the Øresund straits and Køge bay in the background.

The view

The view is the name of the viewing platform and the highest level you can visit the tower. It provides you with a magnificent, panoramic view of Copenhagen and on a clear day, you can see all the way to Sweden. The viewing platform is situated at a height of 44 meters and has a maximum capacity of 50 people at a time.

Visiting the viewing platform is free of charge but it may be necessary to wait to come up in the lift.

Visit the Tower

The restaurant 

In addition to enjoying the view, you can also give yourself a culinary experience in the restaurant, which is run by the recognised restaurateur Rasmus Bo Bojesen. Please note that the restaurant is very popular so it is a good idea to book a table in advance.

Read more about the restaurant